The Gastonia City Council took a step in the right direction recently when, in a close split vote, members rezoned a parcel of land to allow for commercial development.

The land, 6.2 acres along Glenwood Drive, sits just off a fast-developing commercial section of East Franklin Boulevard.

Owners sought a zoning change from residential to commercial, given the new business activity that has taken place in the area of late.

With a 4-3 vote, the Council approved a more limiting commercial zoning classification.

Readers of this page know well our strong support of property rights and our belief that owners, not government, should determine how property is used. Restrictions on property use are best entered into voluntarily by individual owners forming their own associations and making decisions freely among themselves.

When government usurps an individual’s property rights, it’s often with the promise of protecting one’s property from some future unwanted, unnamed predator.

The Glenwood Drive rezoning is proof that is not the case.

Residents in the area strongly opposed the rezoning request, believing that additional commercial development intruded into their neighborhood. The Council, however, didn’t see it that way.

With zoning laws, government always has the power to bring about change that will be opposed by some. Those laws never protect one’s property in the way they view protection.

Among the Council members opposed to the zoning change, David Kirlin’s vote stands out.

Kirlin, who lives near the rezoned property, said he believed he could be objective in his decision-making despite the location of his home.

Perhaps.

Abstaining, however, would remove all doubt about Councilman Kirlin’s objectivity on the issue.

Mayor John Bridgeman set a good precedent earlier when he declined to vote on a rezoning issue because of his role in the real estate business.

In another twist to this story, opponents of the rezoning request accused Councilman Jim Gallagher of selling his vote for $250, a campaign donation from the developer who submitted the rezoning request on behalf of the property owners.

Gallagher voted in favor of rezoning.

While $250 seems like a meager sum for which to sell one’s vote, there’s really no way to tell whether Councilman Gallagher’s decision was swayed by the campaign contribution.

Voters will have to make up their minds if his name once again appears on the ballot for elective office.

For now the decision on a zoning classification for the 6.2 acres has been made.

While we would have preferred to see the property owners’ rezoning request approved as submitted to the Council, we take heart that the majority of members sided with a classification that will give owners more options on how to use their property.